If you bought and activated a key for EverQuest, DC Universe Online, PlanetSide 2, EverQuest II, or a Krono subscription from a third-party reseller, you might have found yourself on the nasty end of the banstick this week.
Several sites are reporting that “thousands” of Daybreak players have been locked out of their games following the purchase of such keys. Daybreak does not take kindly to these resellers, claiming that many of them have obtained these keys through dubious methods. Red Guides notes that there is nothing in Daybreak’s Terms of Service or EULA restricting where keys can be purchased.
In a possibly related move, EverQuest’s newest expansion, The Broken Mirror, is no longer available to purchase through Steam.
Following the June 30th actions, the studio is reversing those bans and deciding to issue warnings instead. One player shared a letter from Daybreak, which you can read after the break.
This is a notification from Daybreak Game Company. We regret to inform you that the account name: XXXXXXX has been issued a warning due to a Community Standards violation. After reviewing our records, one of the characters on this account was found to have committed the following violations:
On Thursday, June 30th, Daybreak Games identified and suspended a number of accounts across EverQuest, EverQuest 2, PlanetSide 2 and DC Universe Online. These accounts had redeemed content via keys sold on third-party key selling sites. Those keys had been invalidated due to credit card chargebacks, which is often indicative of fraudulent purchases. Players should always beware of keys sold outside of Daybreak Games or our official affiliate partners like Steam.
Daybreak understands that some players may not have known that they were purchasing invalid keys. We will be reversing the suspensions through the holiday weekend so players can continue to play and enjoy our titles. However, we want to emphasize that players should be wary of any game keys purchased from sellers other than Daybreak or Steam, as those keys may not be valid, and we cannot provide any refunds for keys that were purchased from third-party sites.
We do not take situations like this lightly and are informing you that future incidences could result in further action against you, up to and including permanent account ban. You may view the full Terms of Service here: https://www.daybreakgames.com/terms-of-service
Thank you for your consideration,
Daybreak Games Support
